Pond overflows in Faridkot village, walls collapse, roads damaged

Continous rainfall for over four days has led to overflowing of a pond in Bhana village, 10 km from Faridkot. Residents claim that pond water has spilled on to main streets and houses and more than two-feet water is stagnant.

They also claimed that water from Bhana and Dhudhi villages had flowed close to the metalled link road could damage the foundation of the road.

A village resident Balvir Singh claimed that the three rooms in his house had been damaged as the walls collapsed due to overflowing rain water from the pond.

Another resident Saudagar Singh claimed: "Some walls of my house have cracked due to excess of standing water along the boundary."

"We cannot even pass through our streets. A lot of walls have cracked and collapsed. Some rooms have also collased," said sarpanch Balwant Singh.

"The rain must stop. Even my efforts to pump out water using a tractor failed, when it started raining again," he added.

"A solution to the problem of stagnant water is the re-laying of the faulty pipe line, which is not running smoothly and is tapered a little higher in the middle. The 2-km pipeline, laid about 5 years ago, was made without any proper survey, as it requires water pumps. However, it should have been made to drain itself by gravity, because the Langhewala drain running about 2 ks from the village, is 11 feet lower than the village," the sarpanch claimed.

"Standing water on the streets is leading to the development of cracks in the outside walls of my house. We are trapped inside our houses," said Jaswinder Kaur, a resident.

Two low-lying fields have been submerged in the rainwater.

Faridkot deputy commissioner Ravi Bhagat said, "I will look into the matter and the requisite action will be taken."

The problems related to ponds is an endemic problem and affects most villages in the region. All dirty water of houses accumulates into it and then locals find them to a source of diseases and a sore point to our eyes. They are also soft targets for encroachment.